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London 2012 heptathlon: Canada’s Jessica Zelinka third after day 1 despite setbacks

Jessica Zelinka knew high jump was her vulnerable spot. After a poor performance she strived even harder, managing to end the day third behind runaway leader Jessica Ennis.

Jessica Zelinka battles Jessica Ennis in the 200 in the heptathlon during the athletic events. (STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

Canadian heptathlete Jessica Zelinka fails three attempts at 1.71 metres, scoring a disappointing 830 points in the high jump. Earlier she had had a really strong showing in the hurdles. (STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

Jessica Zelinka is disappointed after failing all three attempts at 1.71 metres in the high jump. Her poor score in the event makes her journey to the heptathlon medal podium much more difficult. (STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

LONDON—There will be a scorned lover at the end of the Olympic heptathlon, kicked to the curb to wither and die.

It will have been banished there by Canada’s Jessica Zelinka, tossed aside like yesterday’s rubbish.

It will be the high jump portion of the seven-event competition, and Zelinka sounds as if the breakup is permanent.

Zelinka had one of her worst high jumps in recent memory on Friday— clearing just 1.68 metres — which makes her journey to the medal podium far, far more difficult.

“I still haven’t figured out the stupid event,” said Zelinka, who still managed to finish the first day in third place behind runaway leader Jessica Ennis of Great Britain and Lithuania’s Austra Skujyte.

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“At this point, I’ve been pretending I love it — ‘oh, I love you, high jump, we’re friends, we’re friends’ — and now I don’t need to be its friend any more. Screw it. It screwed me over too many times.”

That Zelinka, 30, could even joke about the second of four events she competed Friday comes mainly because she was so outstanding in the other three.

She posted a personal best of 12.65 seconds in the 100-metre hurdles, a season-best 14.81 metres in the shot put and a personal best 23.32 seconds in the 200 metres.

Ennis leads with 4,158 points, Skujyte is second with 3,974 and Zelinka is third with 3,902. Lyudmyla Yosypenko of Ukraine is fourth, just one point behind Zelinka.

The high jump blip cause a recalculation of the game-plan set up by Zelinka’s coach, Les Gramantik.

“Yesterday, he was like ‘we don’t need any PBs, just (be) consistent,” said Zelinka. “After high jump he was, like, ‘OK, change of plans, now we’re going for season bests.’ ”

It will take a major upset for anyone to catch Ennis, who came into the event as the overwhelming favourite and didn’t disappoint the crowd of about 80,000 that packed the Olympic Stadium on Friday night.

The Brit ran the 100 hurdles in 12.54, high jumped 1.86 metres, threw the shot 14.28 metres and covered the 200 metres in 22.83 seconds.

“I know she’s an amazing athlete, and even though she’s far ahead I still feel like I want to be competitive with her,” Zelinka said of her British friend.

There’s even a benefit to competing side by side with the darling of the crowd, as Zelinka found out when they were in the same heat of the 200 metres.

“You kind of get used to it at this point,” she said. “It was great because it was (the fans shouting) “go, Jessica, go, Jessica” and I’m like, ‘thanks, guys, thanks.’ It was a bit crazy but it’s cool in a way too. It definitely wasn’t a distraction, it just gets you more excited.”

Zelinka made only two successful high jumps, clearing 1.65 and 1.68 metres before failing three times at 1.71. Considering her personal best is 1.79 metres and her season best is 1.73 metres, it was a disastrous end to the morning session.

“I can’t help get it out of my head how many points you get in high jump, and I know I really needed a good high jump today,” she said. “It made me even more determined.”

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